Queen to give Charles new title to mark Prince of Wales taking over power, expert claims

The Queen has been known to consider her role of monarch as a lifelong commitment and is believed to be planning to remain on the throne until the day she dies. Over the past few years, an increasing number of kings and queens across Europe have given up their crowns in favour of their first direct descendants, sparking speculation the Queen may choose to do the same. But royal expert Moniek Bloks suggested the monarch could choose to simply have Prince Charles assume more power by giving him a new title.

The Queen could choose to make Prince Charles a regent rather than relinquishing the crown (Image: GETTY)

The Queen has given Prince Charles increasing duties over the past few years (Image: GETTY)

The sovereign would be able to make the Prince of Wales a prince-regent by triggering the Regency Acts, a series of laws which dictate the rules to remove powers from the monarch to an appointed member of the Royal Family in the event of the Queen being unable to carry out her duties.

The latest version of the acts was drafted in 1937 to set out plans for a regency in the event of then-Princess Elizabeth inheriting the crown from her father, George VI, while still underage.

According to the Regency Act of 1937 at least three people – including Prince Philip, the Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons – would have to declare evidence provided proved “that the Sovereign is for some definite cause not available for the performance of those functions.”

While the Prince of Wales would take on the roles usually performed by the sovereign, the Duke of Edinburgh would become a guardian of the Queen.

The Queen inherited the crown from her father, George VI, in 1953 (Image: GETTY)

While talks of the Queen relinquishing all or part of her powers to Charles have been dismissed in the past, the first-in-line to the throne has been increasingly taking on extra duties from the monarch.

Royal biographer Phil Dampier earlier this year said: “He is starting to do that already, being at the state opening in Parliament and the Commonwealth conference.

“He is starting to take over a lot of her duties and doing the investitures.”

Prince Charles is also believed to have been meeting with the Queen throughout the week to discuss matters of state, with the Prince of Wales also reportedly included in a distribution list of despatch boxes the monarch regularly receives from Whitehall.

Prince Charles is the first-in-line to the throne, with son William immediately after him (Image: EXPRESS.CO.UK)

The Queen committed to serving as monarch “throughout all my life” (Image: GETTY)

Royal author Robert Jobson said the Queen and Prince Charles are already in a “period of transition” whereby the sovereign is granting her son with more and more responsibility.

Mr Jobson said: “The Queen at her next birthday will be 93. She has not completed a long-haul state visit since 2011.

“Although the Prince of Wales has talked about there only being one sovereign at a time and that is true, what you do have is a bit of a dual monarchy at the moment and a transition that is ongoing.”

The Queen has been on the throne for 67 years and following her coronation she pledged to serve her people across the UK and the Commonwealth “throughout all my life and with all my heart.”

In her first speech since taking on the crown in 1953, the monarch said: “I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine.”

“I am sure that this, my Coronation, is not the symbol of a power and a splendour that are gone but a declaration of our hopes for the future, and for the years I may, by God’s Grace and Mercy, be given to reign and serve you as your Queen.